I think we all know where I stand on this issue, pretty sure the answer is a big fat NO. Being fat is not always a choice. We do have control of our lifestyle which can absolutely affect weight on a daily basis, however, to suggest that genetics plays only a minor role is seriously a bunch of crap. Period. The author of the article, “Confessions of a Chubster – The moral crusade on fatties” states, “Being fat is a choice. Genetics plays a role, sure. So does your upbringing. But you do not get fat unless you’re eating more than you need to nourish your body. That’s basic science.” http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-18663-confessions_of_a_chu.html

Basic science in his case obviously provided him without the metabolic challenge that many people, including myself, deal with every day. He says you do not get fat unless you are eating more than you need to. Again, a bunch of crap. I hate to repeat myself but we all know someone who can put away food like there is no tomorrow and stay fit and lean while others who even just think about a pint of Ben & Jerry’s gain 5 pounds. That is just the way it is and, yes, it is science. To put it simply, those people were not born with the wonderfully nondiscriminatory fat gene!!!

He mentions upbringing as contributory but does not elaborate whether he was a chubby kid or not. Back in the years when I was a kid in the 60’s to 70’s, my diet was controlled by what my mother cooked and school lunches. I was always a fat kid. Was I overeating?? No. We did not have an abundance of snacks in house like candy, chips, or other junk food. If we wanted an evening snack it usually would consist of saltines with peanut butter or fruit. Ice cream was a real treat, and certainly not daily consumption, and eating out was a rare occasion. We were not allowed soda with our meals and to really bring home my point, I am from a household where you literally drank juice in a “juice glass” for the portion size. See where I am going with this??

Kudos to the author for losing 100 pounds in 8 months! It once again just reiterates my point that everyone is different and what will work for one may not work for another. I am sure more will agree with me that his success is what is so deftly phrased as “Results not typical.”

With a bunch of butt shots with measurements (yes I said measurements!) coming up to the slow rocking beat of stripper music, my video Fat Chicks and Unfriendly Chairs definitely has the market cornered on making light of being heavy 🙂 Making Light of Being Heavy is a comical book with opinions and observations from a fat chick’s point of view that puts an unexpected and funny spin on dealing with the fat gene!

I think there might be varied opinions on this one, but for me personally I do not even watch them because it really isn’t “reality.” I remember when the Biggest Loser show first aired. Having been a professional dieter my entire life, I was curious to see how these people were going to lose such huge amounts of weight because some of the results on the previews were quite shocking to me. Early into the show I discovered how this was being accomplished and never watched another episode.

These shows are very popular and I think they have some good points as well as some bad points. To name a few, I really dislike is that they are in no way realistic with an isolated environment, 24/7 access to doctors, dietitians, fitness instructors as well as other professionals, and most importantly the absolute ridiculous amount of exercise each day. For the average professional dieter such as myself, I have a few responsibilities like my family and work that takes up about 75% of my day which would make it virtually impossible to achieve their routine. And besides, there is no way I am going to miss an episode of NCIS, CSI, or Castle…seriously no way.

Now on the upside, they do provide a good dose of inspiration for someone who just hasn’t jumped on the ol’ diet bandwagon. Just as important, some discuss health, diet, cooking and meal preparation, motivation and attitude, as well as targeted exercise.

With that said, it is unfortunate that society has created such as warped sense of body image that these shows actually exist to begin with. The global message should not be directed at what is perceptually wrong with you, but rather what is great about you! Healthy people come in all shapes and sizes and once you feel good about yourself, everything else will fall into place including weight loss. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

With a bunch of butt shots with measurements (yes I said measurements!) coming up to the slow rocking beat of stripper music, my video Fat Chicks and Unfriendly Chairs definitely has the market cornered on making light of being heavy 🙂 Making Light of Being Heavy is a comical book with opinions and observations from a fat chick’s point of view that puts an unexpected and funny spin on dealing with the fat gene!

So I have successfully completed two weeks of the Scarsdale Diet and have lost 14 more pounds. Yay!! Getting closer and closer to my goal. I have given myself smaller goals to achieve like getting to 20 pounds. It is funny though, even though I have lost over 50 pounds, people who see me all the time I don’t think are even noticing….What I think it is is that they see me as fat anyway and since I am still fat I must still just look like the same ol’ Kandy who is fat. On the flip side though, I have run into a few people who I have not seen in several months and they have definitely noticed. It sure feels good when they tell you how great you look. A little validation certainly goes a long way in this business of dieting.

Recently I came across an article called “Does Being Thin Mean Being Happy?” http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/does-being-thin-mean-being-happy-1.684609 The assumption is that being slim is the path to happiness. According to Dr. Pam Spur, psychologist, a woman’s weight has more impact on her personal happiness than her love life. Her 24-year study of thousands of people found that obesity leads to more misery and suffering than being single, while being thin provides more satisfaction than in a relationship. I would like to know who she has been interviewing. She should have called me – I am a fat chick with a great love life that has been single, happy, and fat for many years enjoying every day of it!

Next month in November my book Making Light of Being Heavy will be on a virtual book tour and I will be posting updates with reviews and interviews. I am still working on the book trailer but hoping to have it complete for the book tour as well.

The title of the article I refer to was “Fat and Unaware: Most Obese Americans Don’t Think They Are.” This was based on a new poll by Harris Interactive, a market research firm. News flash people, we know we are fat and as a fat expert myself I would say the resistance would be not wanting to call oneself morbidly obese but maybe overweight instead or just simply fat as I resolve to do because even though “fat” is not the greatest word either, it sure sounds better than morbidly obese!

Why haven’t they come up with words for short people like “drastically underheight” or for the too thin of the world “radically emaciated” to be used when defining them?? I am pretty sure a short person regardless of liking that particular character trait or not would prefer to be called short and the same for a person who is too thin.

Over the years in my business with medical transcription I have typed “morbidly obese” a zillion times and still get a little irked each time I type it. When a person is of “normal weight” (and I use that term loosely) the usual phrase is “well‑nourished, well-developed…” But then one day a doctor referred to the fat patient as “overly nourished.” Ha!! That made my day.

According to the poll, about half of the respondents thought that surgery was very or fairly effective in keeping off the weight. “It’s not as simple as portion size and activity.” said Steven R. Smith, an obesity researcher at the Burnham Institute in Lake Nona. Surprise, surprise Steve, I have known that since I was in grade school. “Smith agrees that the surgery, though it can start at $12,000, can reduce diabetes, heart diseases, and mortality, and even save money in the long run.”

This is where I get a little riled up….how is it better to physically alter the body you were given during the miracle of birth by medically removing or banding a piece of your stomach so the end result will be basically the ability to ingest SMALLER AMOUNTS OF FOOD more often to lose weight. Gee, give me a minute, but I think I have read somewhere that that is one of the recommended ways to lose weight without surgery….Again, call me crazy and I am no medical expert but surgery sure sounds like an asinine approach to take. In my field of medical transcription, I have typed countless reports in which years later the digestive system is out of whack and the previous gastric bypass patients have lifelong medical issues directly related to the surgery.

According to the poll, most of the respondents really thought that they were fat because they did not get enough exercise. Yes, exercise definitely is advantageous to a person overall but certainly not the determining factor as to why a person is fat. Genetics plays more of a part than anything else out there. Didn’t you get my memo??

In an article titled, “The Staggering Cost of Obesity Increases To $100 Billion Per Annum” it states that, “Obesity kills a staggering 300,000 Americans every single year and health-care expenditures and associated cost of obesity have gone up to a whooping $100 billion per annum. The World Bank roughly estimated that about 12 percent of the U.S. budget of health care is largely spent on the treatment of obesity.” Estimated 12% of the U.S. budget for health care is for fat people. So what about the other 88% of the budget…Call me crazy and I am no expert but I think the number of people who smoke in this country might be comparable to those who are fat and we never see handy-dandy informative articles like this one on how the detriments of cigarettes people smoke affect the healthcare budget. They certainly cannot blame me as part of the problem with obesity and the healthcare budget because being self-employed no insurance company will even cover me because I am “morbidly obese.” Hmmm…Strange considering I am healthy as a horse, no diabetes, no hypertension, no known hereditary risk factors, do not smoke, do not drink, take no regular medications, and can pass a physical exam with flying colors…except I am fat. You can bet your bottom dollar that I am healthier than a good percentage of people that are covered by insurance who do smoke, drink, take daily medications, but just fall within the weight guidelines. A video by Dr. Victor Bellonzi is included in this informative little article about how genetics absolutely positively has nothing to do with whether a person is overweight or not. Not to state the obvious but he probably has never had a weight problem. To quote Dr. Bellonzi, “If you don’t take the time and the care to watch out for these things you create a different situation.” He is referring to how you treat your genes and that we don’t need to blame genetics for any part of our weight problem because it is totally irrelevant. Really?? So, I guess I cannot blame genetics for my brown hair, blue eyes, large front teeth, my big toe and second toe being the same size, the space between my eyes, the shape of my ears…geez must I go on? So genetics plays a role in all of those features about me but there is no way that it plays a part in my body habitus. Seriously this guy is nuts! “If you are overweight it is not because of your genetics it is because you haven’t treated your genes the way they needed to be treated to get the outcome that you wanted unless you wanted to be overweight so you have to start learning how to treat your genes.” Yes Dr. Bellonzi, you have figured me out…my whole life I have wanted to be fat. Last time I checked we do not have any control on genes we inherently receive from our parents or ancestors. There are plenty of people who are thin and eat whatever they want and never do a drop of exercise but on the flip side there are people who have struggled with their weight their whole lives who do watch their diet and exercise only to have the same outcome. So why is that if genes do not play a role? Genes are a powerful part of our makeup and I did get the fat gene. Do you think it is too late to get a refund?

So according to an article on Lemondrop (Exactly How Long Can A Woman Actually Resist A Klondike Bar) , the average woman can last 19 days on a diet before cheating. The article failed to mention which attempt at a diet this actually was….if it was the first attempt in a while then probably 19 days is just a tad bit exaggerated. Usually for me it will take a coupe of attempts before the diet will really stick at which point I usually try to do a two‑week on and then a few days to a week off and then two-week on sort of routine so you actually see an end in sight which is easier to follow through with then a never-ending diet. The Scarsdale diet has always been a favorite of mine and works without a doubt the best. I detailed this diet in my book, Making Light of Being Heavy.

The article also mentions that the dieter will spend on average $250 on dieting paraphernalia including workout clothes, exercise equipment, magazines, books, gym memberships, etc. prior to the begin of a diet three times a year. Again, not true for this professional dieter. My main focus when I am going to be starting a diet is what I am NOT going to be able to eat for two weeks at which point I will promptly indulge in exactly that. For all of us who are professional dieters, we already have the books, the clothes, the equipment, and so on. Heck, we have had it for years and if these other women are spending $250 each time they start a diet then they are just plain crazy. As a professional dieter, my main goal is to get geared up for the diet letting myself know that I will not be missing a thing because I just ate it and, besides, two weeks is definitely doable. If I do happen to buy a new piece of exercise equipment it will be a new hula hoop for $3.99 at Walmart because my current one has a kink in it!

Until next time, keep laughing!

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